FURTHER redundancies could be on the way to the Defence Aviation Repair Agency after it announced 550 job losses yesterday.

Archie Hughes, chief executive of Dara, said there were "no guarantees" for the future as unions warned the RAF St Athan site could suffer the "death of a thousand cuts".

The warnings leave a question mark over the £77m Project Red Dragon and the Welsh Development Agency's own planned investment in the area.

The four Dara sites were created in 1998 to carry out repair and maintenance work on military aircraft for the MoD.

The future for St Athan seemed secure last July when Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram approved Project Red Dragon to create a repair superhangar on site as a first step towards making Dara the hub of a world-class aviation centre.

Mr Hughes said that while the MoD investment suggested Ministers saw a future for Dara in South Wales, nothing was certain.

He warned, "There are no guarantees of future workload.

"When Dara was set up there was no End to End Review.

"It was set up to look at best value for defence and the outcome of that will be later this year. It could mean more work, it could mean less work.

"However the Project Red Dragon has given us the opportunity to be competitive in the market place."

A MoD spokesman said, "It is expected that up to 550 posts are likely to be affected but the final number will not be known until the consultation process is completed."

Some 360 jobs will go as part of an efficiency drive within Dara and Mr Hughes said compulsory redundancies were "inevitable".

Those jobs will go from Project Red Dragon, a £77m scheme which includes the creation of a superhangar capable of housing 48 fast jets at any one time.

A further 190 engineering jobs will be lost as a result of the MoD's own review.

Years of cost cutting has seen the site slim down from 7,500 staff to 1,800 and Mr Hughes said there was simply no fat left on the bone to meet all the cuts through voluntary redundancy.

The Harrier jet maintenance and repair jobs will be moved "in-house" to RAF Cottesmore in Leicestershire.

The End to End Review has prompted warnings more jobs could go at Dara when it is completed later this year.

Vale of Glamorgan MP John Smith said giving work back to the RAF "ran counter to government policy".

"The whole purpose of the creation of Dara was to combine military efficiency with cost effectiveness by ensuring that all deep repair and maintenance was undertaken by civilians operating on a commercial basis.

"This decision drives a coach and horses through this policy."

He continued, "The 360 jobs are going as a result of an internal management decision to introduce efficiency savings to compete on the world market.

"I have always argued that this can be achieved, as in the past, without compulsory redundancies and preserving the skills base.

"The second half of the announcement is even more worrying. While it refers to 190 jobs, this is a result of giving the work back to the RAF, which runs counter to government policy."

Mr Smith urged Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram to rethink his decision or "at the very least" guarantee no further job losses.

He said Mr Hughes should be given "commercial freedom" to bring work to St Athan from other Dara bases.

There was no press notice or statement about the job cuts at Westminster.

Welsh MPs were told the news at yesterday's Welsh Grand Committee by Mr Hain, who said Project Red Dragon showed Dara had a "strong future".

Assembly Conservative economic development spokes-man and prospective parliamentary candidate for the Vale, Alun Cairns, warned the job cuts could prove the "thin end of the wedge".

"Only last July the Armed forces Minister was saying there was nothing to worry about and that the future of Dara was bright.

"An aircraft superhangar has been built which seemed to underline that confidence.

"The WDA had an intention of building an aviation business park on the back of Red Dragon and have spent £8m on land alone for this purpose.

"Along with the unions I am now worried about the longer term future of the operation."

Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, agreed the ongoing MoD review posed a "question mark over the future of Dara".

"I fear the worst," he added, "When the go-ahead was given for Project Red Dragon it was said that the future was bright.

"My concern this that we now see the prospect of the death of Dara by a thousand cuts.

Economic Development Minister Andrew Davies, who was reportedly praising the Dara success story on Monday, yesterday found himself offering his sympathies to the shell-shocked workforce in a statement to the Assembly.

Mr Davies said, "Many of these job losses were not unexpected.

"That Dara would need to make efficiencies to become even more competitive in a tough market is a recognised fact, but clearly one that does not make this announcement any more welcome or less of a blow to those directly affected."